Pai's confusion
by Power-of-all
Summary: What is Pai suppose to do? His loyalty lies with his home planet, yet a new feeling inside of him is telling him to protect Lettuce. What happens? Read and find out. Rated T.
1. Come with me

**I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.**

**Hello! This is a Pai and Lettuce story.**

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"Tokyo City…" Pai commented as he slowly floated above a skyscraper. Grey clouds covered the sky and Pai could actually feel the threat of rain in the air. Getting wet wouldn't bother him though...he had endured much worst then just getting rained on.

Pai glanced at the streets below and frowned at all the cars driving around. "Foolish humans," Pai whispered as he continued his journey. After reaching the outskirts of the city, Pai quickened his flight and soon reached a small park. He let out an annoyed sigh when he saw Café Mew Mew, the headquarters of his enemies, the mews.

It came to Pai as a surprise when Lettuce came walking out the front doors and started to walk towards the park. Pai didn't know why, but he wanted to see where she was going, so he carefully floated down until he was behind Lettuce. His feet were only a few inches off the ground as he started to follow her, making sure that he was about ten meters behind her. She didn't appear to notice his presence, so Pai continued to follow her as she walked to the pond that was located the middle of the park.

Lettuce stopped as she came to the edge of the pond and looked around before sitting down and looking out on to the pond. Pai had teleported behind a tree when she had stopped, so she didn't see him. Glancing around the edge of the tree, Pai took note of her style of dress. Lettuce was wearing a forest green sweatshirt with a purple flowing skirt that came down to her knees. She wore lime-green sandals, and had a golden necklace around her neck. Pai looked up at the back of her head and felt himself study her long, green hair that hung down to her shoulders.

Pai shook his head and coldly told himself, "I do not need this distraction. She has nothing to do with my search of mew aqua, so I should move on…" Ten minutes went by, and Pai still didn't move from his spot. He didn't know why, but he felt a strange urge to reveal himself to Lettuce.

"Damn this feeling…" Pai said softly to himself as he tried to move away, only to discover his feet wouldn't move. Instead, his feet stayed steadfast, so he continued to watch Lettuce. After a few more minutes of staring into the pond, Lettuce sighed and turned around to look into the trees. Pai felt a cold feeling go through him as she got up and began to walk towards the tree that he was hiding behind.

_If I don't move soon, she is going to see me! _Pai thought worriedly as he once again tried to move his feet. They still wouldn't listen to him, but he pulled his face back from the edge of the tree and prepared himself for being discovered. Pai held his breath for a few seconds before he heard Lettuce stop and sit down. Pai risked a glance over the edge of the tree again and saw Lettuce sitting with her back against the same tree that he was hiding behind.

Pulling his head back, Pai was about to teleport away when he heard Lettuce sniffle. Pai paused, deciding if he should chance another look. The decision was made for him when he heard someone new approaching from the other side of the tree. He looked around to see a boy about the age of nineteen standing a few meters away from Lettuce. The boy had blond hair, blue eyes and was wearing a black leather jacket with its sleeves torn off. His pants appeared to be a khaki coloring, but Pia wasn't sure about that.

"Lettuce-san," the boy said softly, his voice barely above a whisper. Lettuce looked up to the boy's face but didn't respond. "Lettuce-san, I know you don't want to fight the aliens, but you must…for the safety of the Earth."

Lettuce buried her face in her hands as she started to cry. After a minute, she sobbed, "I don't want to fight anymore Ryou-san! Please, just release me from this torment by taking away my powers and let me live my life in peace."

The boy, who Pai now knew as Ryou, said with rising anger, "Lettuce, don't do this. Don't leave your friends alone to fight and die because you were too afraid of hurting the enemy who wants to destroy us."

Lettuce continued to cry, causing a strange feeling to go through Pai. He carefully looked at Ryou's face and realized with a shock that the creator of the mews was standing there. Pai's resolution hardened and he prepared himself mentally to attack. His mission was to get more mew aqua, but if Ryou was killed, then Pai would have all the time he would ever need to look and not worry about it being discovered by the humans.

Unfortunately, Lettuce said something that stopped Pai cold. She said softly, "I don't want to fight Pai-san anymore. I can't bear the pain of watching him get hurt anymore. I just can't."

The strange feeling seemed to blast though Pai's body, originating from the area where his heart was. Pai grunted as the feeling, emotion Pai thought, took on a type of longing and pain. "What the hell is this?" Pai questioned himself silently as Ryou walked over to Lettuce and angerly grabbed her arm.

"You can't leave us Lettuce," Ryou said with unhindered anger. Lettuce tried to break free of his grip, but she was no match for his strength.

"Ryou-san…you're hurting me…" Lettuce whimpered before letting out a cry of pain as Ryou started to force her to walk with him. "Let go!" Lettuce cried out.

Ryou continued to walk and said in an angry voice, "No, I will not have you break off from the rest of the mews. You must stay with them no matter what, but don't worry because I've got a drug that will erase your emotions until you become like that tall alien."

Lettuce stopped crying and said defensively, "Pai-san does have feelings. He just has a hard time knowing what they mean…I can see it in his eyes!" Ryou shrugged like he didn't care, but Pai had heard every word of what she had said. Ryou forced Lettuce to move a few more steps before he tightened his grip again, bringing a shriek from Lettuce.

Pai moved his suddenly responsive feet and teleported in front of Ryou. "What the…" Ryou started to exclaim before Pai put all his strength behind a punch and hit Ryou in the nose. Lettuce fell down and flinched when the sound of breaking cartilage filled the air. Ryou's eyes rolled up into his head as he fell on the ground, out cold.

Looking at Lettuce's arm, Pai's eyes narrowed when he saw red marks from where Ryou had gripped her arm with such a force that it caused bruises to form. Lettuce looked into Pai's eyes and asked softly, "Pai-san?"

Pai ignored his name and gently brought her arm up so he could look at the bruises better. After a few minutes of examining her arm, Pai looked into Lettuce's green eyes and asked, "Does it hurt?"

Lettuce started to shake her head no but flinched when Pai gingerly touched the bruise. "I'm fine…" Lettuce said with a blush. She slightly smiled and watched as Pai looked at her arm and started to wrap up the bruised part of it. When he was done with that, he looked back into her eyes and thought about the situation.

Pai was confronted with a dilemma. He knew that he should kill Ryou and Lettuce, but he also couldn't stop the feeling that had taken over his body. Pai thought about what he should do for a few minutes until he realized that Lettuce was shifting nervously at having his attention for so long.

An idea appeared in Pai's head as he asked with a small smile, "You said that you don't want to fight anymore?"

Lettuce blushed and answered in a embarrassed tone, "I don't want to fight anymore."

Pai nodded his head and picked Lettuce up bridal style. Lettuce shifted uncomfortable as Pai said soothingly, "I'll take you back to my ship so you won't ever have to fight again." With that, he teleported them to his ship.

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**Well, what did you think? Please review, thanks!**


	2. The ship

**I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.**

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Lettuce looked around and gasped. She had been expecting Pai's ship to be white walls, bright lights, and overflowing with technology. Instead, Lettuce saw that Pai was standing on a floor that looked like he was walking on the earth sky. It even had clouds that were slowly shifting beneath the floor. What was even more amazing was that the floor rippled like water every time he placed a foot on it. There were no walls or ceiling, allowing Lettuce to see into space. After looking around, Pai let Lettuce down on her feet.

Lettuce was unsure of herself as she tried a few steps before giggling at the feeling of flying she was getting. Pai slightly smiled and asked, "I guess you've never been to my ship before, have you?" Lettuce nodded her head in a yes while she slowly sat down on the floor.

"Where is Kishu-san's and Taruto-kun's ship?" Lettuce asked, placing her hands to feel the slight vibrations of the floor.

Pai's eyes narrowed slightly, but he shrugged and said, "they live here on my ship, but sometimes Kishu claims that this is his ship. It makes me…annoyed, when he makes that claim."

Lettuce nodded her head again and sat silently for a few minutes. Pai sat down after a minute, where he found himself looking deeply into Lettuce's eyes. The strange feeling came back, causing Pai to look away from Lettuce to rid himself of it. _What am I going to do? _Pai asked himself. He didn't think that Kishu or even Taruto would care if Lettuce was in the ship with them, but it was an entirely different matter if Deep Blue found out about Lettuce. He would order her death, something that Pai wished to avoid if possible.

"Um…Pai-san?" Lettuce asked, a puzzled look on her face.

"Lettuce-san, just call me Pai," Pai said with a frown, not caring for the formality.

"Only if you call me Lettuce," Lettuce said with a smile. She looked around shyly before asking uncomfortably, "I don't want to intrude or anything, but…you wouldn't happen to have any food? I'm hungry."

Pai looked at the floor and thought about it. He personally didn't eat very much, so he had no idea what he should give her. _Do humans even eat the same food as us? _Pai asked himself. Standing up, he said, "wait here until I return." With that, he teleported to a different location of the ship. The floor was now covered in a white tile, but there was still no walls. There was however a small, metallic table a few meters away from Pai. He walked over to the table and hit his fist on top it. A small purple fruit appeared out of thin air and fell into Pai's open hand.

Pai teleported back to Lettuce, who was still staring at the floor with amazement. "Here you are Lettuce, a fresh rasple," Pai said as he handed Lettuce the apple looking fruit. Lettuce didn't look at it as she accepted the food and took a bite out of it.

Suddenly, she looked over at it and said with disbelief, "this is an apple? It tastes like…a chocolate shake! Yes, I can even feel the cooling effects of it."

Pai looked shocked as he said, "that's not an apple…it's a rasple! Did I get something bad? I thought that a food item that gave the eater their choice of flavor and texture would be good, but if it's not…"

"This is great Pai! Thank you!" Lettuce cried out before eating the rest of the fruit. Pai sighed in relief.

After Lettuce was done eating, she blushed and said, "sorry about troubling with such a simple matter as food."

Pai waved it off and flinched when he felt a presence behind him. Turning around slowly, he came face to face with Kishu. "Pai? What the hell are you doing with this earth girl?" Kishu asked, his eyes narrowing into slits.

Pai's face immediately went cold as he said, "You will not question me Kishu. I give you a place to come back to, and this is how you repay me? Get out of my sight before I decide to punish you with death."

Kishu swore under his breath before teleporting away. "That was not a nice thing to do," Lettuce said, standing up. Pai looked at her and sighed.

"With Kishu, it doesn't really matter how much I threaten him. He always disobeys me, and yet he's still alive. I wouldn't ever actually kill him…without just cause of course. It is more of a instinctive saying then anything. Don't worry about him though…he was just upset that his latest attempt at getting mew Ichigo failed." Pai said with a shrug.

"Why, what happened?" Lettuce asked.

Pai looked at the floor and said with a smile, "Well, Kishu followed mew Ichigo around and started to leave little presents for her. For a little while, mew Ichigo thought it was sweet until Kishu got too hasty and told her that the gifts were from him. Then, I don't really know what happened, but he's been acting strange ever since then."

"That sounds sweet. What type of presents did Kishu-san leave?" Lettuce asked, curious.

For a few seconds, Pai just frowned and continued to look at the floor. He didn't say anything for several minutes. He then looked up into Lettuce's green eyes and said, "Kishu left presents of rasples for her."

Lettuce was curious why he had hesitated, but she didn't ask. Instead, she yawned and stretched. Pai noticed this and asked with a smile, "are you feeling tired Lettuce?"

Unsure of what to say, Lettuce simply nodded her head yes. Pai looked up at the stars and said, "I think it's safe to say that you maybe wondering why you are so tired. From my calculations, you're body's been through ten hours while you were here."

"Ten hours? How?" Lettuce asked, confused. It only seemed to be thirty minutes to possible an hour, not ten hours.

Pai placed his hand on the back of his head and said with a slight blush, "I guess I forgot to tell you that time accelerates in this part of my ship, allowing us to sleep for only an hour to get the effect of a full night's sleep quickly. It also works the opposite way as well, unless you go into the correct chamber. I wasn't thinking when I brought you to this room, but if you sleep here, you will only sleep for an hour before waking, fully refreshed…or do you wish to sleep naturally?"

"Before I answer that question, how long have I been away from my home?" Lettuce asked nervously.

Pai did a quick calculation before saying, "You've been away for about one hour earth time, but you've aged ten hours physically."

Lettuce bit her bottom lip and thought about it. "If it's ok, I would like to be in one of the rooms where time flows normally, since I don't want to wake up as an old lady," Lettuce said with a smile.

Nodding his head, he teleported Lettuce and himself to a new room. It was a perfect replica of Café Mew Mew dining room. "Pai…?" Lettuce asked before Pai blushed deeply.

"This is the strategic room, and it takes on the form of the current object of study…which is this building's weak points," Pai said, causing Lettuce to gasp.

"Why would you be studying our café's weak points?" Lettuce asked with a shocked look on her face.

Pai shifted uncomfortable before saying, "well, technically…the mews are…you know, our…"

"I get it," Lettuce said, sounding heart broken.

"I…I mean, I didn't mean it like that Lettuce…" Pai said hastily, having no idea what to say. Until earlier today, Lettuce probably considered him the enemy as well, so he thought she would understand what it was like. Pai realized that Lettuce might still consider Pai an enemy. As for Pai, he was still debating with the strange feeling what he actually considered her.

"Pai…you said that I would never have to fight here. How can you possible say that if you are planning to kill my friends?" Lettuce questioned with a sad voice.

Honestly, Pai didn't have an answer for her. He did however give her a promise. "Lettuce, would it be better if I swear to you that I will not kill your friends? I can also swear that neither Kishu nor Taruto would kill anyone either. Would that be enough to ease your worried mind?" Pai asked with a calm voice.

Lettuce nodded her head and smiled. Pai looked up at the ceiling and thought,_ that was damn stupid of me…I can't swear that and still carry out Deep Blue's will! _Lettuce looked at Pai with a curious look on her face, causing Pai to look at her and smile. "I think that the mew creator's room is somewhere in here. You could find it better then me, so I'll leave you alone while you go sleep." Pai said softly before teleporting away, allowing Lettuce to go to "Ryou's" room and sleep.

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**Please review, thanks!**


	3. Complicated orders

**I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.**

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"So, humans love food called pizza…" Pai said softly, looking at a hologram of a pizza. The room that he was standing in was about thirteen by fourteen meters, the walls appeared to be made out of marble, and the floor was made out of granite. There was still no ceiling, once again allowing the stars to be seen through it.

It had been several hours since Lettuce first went to sleep. All through that time, Pai had been researching human food items, clothing, and entertainment. If he wanted to keep Lettuce happy and content, he felt that all those basic needs must be met.

Pai didn't seem to notice the floating orbs hovering near his head. Each one contained billions of informational pieces. Pai used these orbs regularly to research different human aspects.

The orbs were actually very basic in their use. All one had to do to gain access to the information was to simply tap the surface of the glowing orb and think about what question you want answered. The answer would then appear in your mind, and if you need to physically look at something, it would project a hologram to show the user the object.

Pai felt something cold touch his heart, indicating that Deep Blue wanted to talk to him. Sighing, Pai let go of the orb he had been holding and teleported to the shrine of Deep Blue. The shrine was a huge pyramid made out of a metallic substance that appeared to be silver in color, yet with long streaks of glowing green that formed ancient writing on the sides of it.

Pai walked around to the side of the pyramid and went into a doorway. A short hallway went beyond the doorway, and after a few minutes of walking down the dark hall, he came upon a flight of stairs. He slowly started to climb the seemingly endless stairs. Ten minutes later, Pai came into a large chamber. The walls were still the silver color, and so was the floor. In the middle of the chamber though, sat a strange floating disk. Pai bent over to bow to the disk before asking, "did you require my services Deep Blue-sama?"

The disk fell to the ground with a loud clap and a silhouette of a man with pointed ears appeared. The man was a floating see though blue gas with no definition of features except for two cold blue eyes. "I require you to obtain something for me," Deep Blue's cold voice said.

"Anything you desire, I shall faithfully go and bring it to you Deep Blue-sama," Pai said, closing his eyes. He felt a slight chilling sensation go though his head. He may have served Deep Blue for his entire life, but Deep Blue still had a slight distrust in him, so Deep Blue was reading Pai's mind.

Pai felt memories of the past few days start to surface, but right before the memory of Lettuce came up, Pai brought forth painful memories of his basic army days. Memories that involved physical torture, spirit breaking labor, and mind numbing exercises that included watching movies of his species dying on the home planet. It was enough to prevent Deep Blue from finding out about Lettuce.

"Very well my loyal servant. I require you to return to planet earth and kill the human girl known as Zakuro…" Deep Blue commanded. Pai's breath caught in his throat. "Is something the matter?" Deep Blue asked in an uncaring voice.

"N…nothing Deep Blue-sama," Pai stuttered. He kept his thoughts off of Lettuce, knowing that Deep Blue was still in his mind.

"Good…now, go and fulfill my will," Deep Blue demanded. Pai instantly teleported away to Kishu's quarters. He knocked on a steel door and waited until an angry Kishu opened the door.

"Pai? What the hell do you want right now?" Kishu growled, rubbing his left eye.

Pai ignored the irritation at once again being questioned by Kishu. Instead, he calmly said, "Deep Blue-sama has ordered us to kill mew Zakuro. Go get Taruto and meet me in the park near Café Mew Mew."

Kishu growled once in irritation before teleporting away. Pai sighed and teleported to Lettuce. He was surprised to find her in the main room of the "café," eating some cake. "Good morning Pai," Lettuce greeted Pai. He frowned and walked over to Lettuce. "Pai?" Lettuce began to ask before Pai put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Lettuce…I'm leaving to fight the mews…" Pai said softly, not looking at Lettuce.

Lettuce immediately stood up and said in a worried voice, "Pai…you've got to take me with you. I've got to tell them that you aren't going to hurt them…"

Pai shook his head sadly before saying, "I never promised that I wouldn't hurt the mews…only that I wouldn't purposely kill them."

A blank look appeared on Lettuce's face. She slowly sat down and stared at Pai, her face totally empty of any emotion. "Lettuce…please don't do this right now…" Pai said, getting on one knee and while gently reaching forward to hold her hands. She flinched at his touch, but allowed him to hold her hands. "Lettuce…I'm sorry…Deep Blue ordered me to kill mew Zakuro…" Pai said, flinching badly when Lettuce stood up. Pai fell back, and sat on the floor with a thump.

"You just said that you wouldn't kill my friends…" Lettuce shouted, reaching to her necklace and bringing it close to her lips.

"Wait Lettuce! I know what I said, and I know what my orders say. I came to ask your forgiveness," Pai begged. It was so unlike Pai that Lettuce didn't say anything. She watched as Pai slowly stood up. "I swore to you that I wouldn't kill your friends…and I swore my life to Deep Blue-sama…I can only see one solution to the problem," Pai said, his face now empty and cold. "You must attempt to kill me."

Lettuce stepped back and said fearfully, "ki ki ki…_kill _you?" Pai nodded his head and took out a small sphere.

"Take this. It will show you my vital organs and allow you to deal me a death blow," Pai said, his voice still without emotion.

"But Pai, I don't want to kill you," Lettuce cried, tears falling down her cheeks.

Pai gave Lettuce the orb before saying, "you don't have to actually kill me…only attempt to. That way, I can say that the mews drove me back."

Lettuce nodded, tears still forming and falling. "Pai…I thought you said that I would never have to fight again," Lettuce said.

That gave Pai a pause. He took a deep breath before saying, "Lettuce, this is a fight that you must fight. Otherwise, I would have to break my promise to you and kill Zakuro. Which promise would you rather I break? Besides, you wouldn't really be fighting me or anyone else…all you would be doing is pretending to fight."

Thinking about it, Lettuce finally agreed that what Pai said did make since. Smiling sadly, Pai teleported Lettuce and himself to the park. As soon as they appeared, Taruto and Kishu looked at them before Tartuo started to attack Lettuce. Kishu grabbed Taruto's hair and pulled him back. "Ow, why did you do that Kishu?" Taruto complained, glaring at him.

Kishu looked at Lettuce with curiosity in his eyes. "Why did you bring her Pai?" Kishu asked, his voice soft.

Pai let Lettuce go before saying, "I'm going to ask you to do me a huge favor. I want you to…not kill or harm any of the mews."

Kishu's eyes narrowed as he said, "are you giving us an order that violates Deep Blue's will?" Taruto nodded his head in agreement.

Lettuce shifted slightly and kissed her power pendent before transforming into her mew self. Pai remained silent, his loyalty at the moment starting to be strained. "Pai…please…" Lettuce begged, looking at Pai.

"So what's your answer Pai? Are you?" Kishu asked, his voice still soft but now threatening.

Pai looked in Lettuce's eyes before saying, "it is not an order…it's a request."

Taruto said with a smile, "I don't think I will follow the request. After all, I never did like that wolf girl."

"Pai…please…" Lettuce begged again. Pai closed his eyes in thought.

"Well Pai? Are you making your request an order?" Kishu challenged.

Pai's eyes opened and glared at Kishu as Pai said in a voice barely above a whisper, "yes…it's now an order."

"What's the order?" Kishu asked, obviously enjoying testing Pai's loyalty.

"I'm ordering you and Taruto not to kill or harm the mew girls," Pai said in defeat, feeling like a traitor.

Kishu laughed and said, "I wasn't going to kill or even harm anyone anyway. My sole target is Ichigo, and I don't want her hurt at all."

Taruto grumbled, "yeah, I really didn't want to actually kill anyone. I was just going to let you kill the Zakuro girl. I don't anyone's blood on my hands."

Pai actually knew what that they would never kill the mews. Kishu had a love interest in Ichigo and Taruto was too young to want the blood of an enemy on his hands. Pai on the other hand…

"Thank you," Lettuce said to Kishu and Taruto.

"Hey, we weren't the ones planning on killing the girls anyway. Pai is the one Deep Blue asked for the deed, and that means the heat of failing the mission will fall on his shoulders alone," Kishu said with a frown, shuddering at the word "failing."

Lettuce turned to Pai and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you," Lettuce said as she moved back. The kiss brought the attention of Kishu, who watched the emotion of gratitude with interest.

"Hmm…I wonder…" Kishu mumbled before he heard someone shout his name. Turning around, he saw Ichigo, Mint, Zakuro, and Pudding all in their mew forms running at them from over half a kilometer away.

Pai quickly jumped back from Lettuce and pretended to be hurt. "Now Lettuce," Pai said quietly, falling to one knee.

Lettuce nodded and held out the small sphere device. Her eyes seemed to light up before she ran at Pai and hit him slightly below the stomach region. Pai coughed up blood and felt a pain go through him. "Not hard enough…hit me again, but harder," Pai said stumbling away from Lettuce.

Tears formed in her eyes as she once again attacked the region, hitting it with almost all her strength.

The world seemed to spin in Pai's eyes as he coughed up dark blood. "That was good enough," Pai said, closing one eye to concentrate. He looked over at Kishu and Taruto, who were being easily beaten back.

"Lettuce…I've got to go for a little while, but I promise I'll be back and let you live without anymore violence," Pai said as he teleported away. Both Kishu and Taruto quickly followed Pai's example.

The other mews ran over to Lettuce and began to ask her questions. She told them what had happened and what Pai had done for them, but started to cry when she saw Pai's blood on the ground.

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**Well, that's the end of this chapter. Please review, thanks!**


	4. Pain

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I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.

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For about an hour, Pai did nothing but stand at the entrance of Deep Blue's temple. Part of him feared what was about to happen and the other part of him was feeling like he was slowly dieing from the attack that Lettuce had used on him.

Pai coughed up some blood as the pain once again exploded from his stomach. The pain was not unlike white-hot needles going around his body, painfully pricking all his internal organs. After a few more minutes of waiting, Pai took a deep breath and walked into Deep Blue's temple.

When Pai reached Deep Blue, he fell to the ground on his knees and bowed deeply. "Deep Blue-sama…please forgive me," Pai said with slight fear in his voice. He started to shake slightly…both from fear and the amount of pain that was exploding through him.

The floating disk fell to the ground before Deep Blue appeared once again. His cold eyes seemed to sparkle with cruel amusement. "Why should I forgive you?" He asked Pai, reading Pai's mind and seeing that Pai, Kishu, and Taruto had failed their mission. Pai had successfully blocked the part on losing on purpose from Deep Blue…not that it really mattered. Deep Blue would punish all three of them for failing.

Before Deep Blue could call for Kishu and Taruto though, Pai said quietly, "I was the leader of this assignment Deep Blue-sama. Please give any punishment that is deserved to me and not to them."

"Pathetic weaklings, can't you even kill one simple human girl?" Deep Blue asked as he lifted an "arm," causing an intense pain to explode in Pai's head. Pai had endured many types of pain in his life, but never one where his brain was attacked directly. The pain…the only possible way Pai could describe it is having every single nerve cell in his entire body suddenly activating and tuning in to a new level of torture.

Pai fell over to his side and twitched several times as he grit his teeth. After five seconds though, the pain was so powerful that Pai screeched out in pain. The pain instantly disappeared after the cry, but Pai still couldn't control his muscles yet. "I feel merciful today luckily for you," Deep Blue said in a bored tone, not caring about Pai.

"Don't fail me again, or you will be begging for me end your life…which won't happen before I let you enjoy a few days of this torture," Deep Blue said as he went back into the disk.

Pai slowly got to his knees and said with open fear, "I won't fail you again Deep Blue-sama." Pai stood up before teleporting to his room. The glowing orbs were floating around, but Pai wasn't interesting in looking up anything at the moment. All he wanted to do was try and not remember the pain he had just experienced.

Pai sat down on the floor and reached up to gently touch the sides of his head. "So…that is Deep Blue-sama's power…" he said softly, his nerves feeling fried…literally. After a few minutes of sitting there, Kishu teleported into Pai's room and looked at him.

Kishu's pupils narrowed as he asked softly, "what did Deep Blue do to you?"

Pia sat quietly for a few seconds before answering, "Deep Blue-sama simply gave me a taste his true power…by activating every single nerve cell in my body."

"Pai…why didn't Deep Blue call me or Taruto? Surly he would want to punish us for failing," Kishu said with curiosity.

After a brief pause, Pai said with no emotion, "I told Deep Blue-sama to give me all the punishment that was earned on this mission."

"You idiot!" Kishu hissed as he walked over to Pai. His hands were clinched into fists as he said, "you know as well as I do that Deep Blue doesn't like failure. He's _killed_ people for simply being late in meeting him. You could have died! Where would your precious green haired girl be if you died because of your bravery?"

Pai stood up immediately and yelled at Kishu, "Don't you think I know that? I did it not let myself be tortured because of that reason. I did it to spare you and Taruto the pain that I experienced. Be grateful, damn it, that I did take all the blame. Out of all of us, I have been Deep Blue-sama's most loyal servant and I had the best chance at coming out alive."

Kishu stood silently and watched as Pai walked over to a floating orb. Pai gently touched the surface of the orb and pretended to search for information. "Pai…I can see that your eye's aren't glowing," Kishu said softly.

Sighing deeply, Pai released the orb and turned to Kishu. "What do you want?"

Thinking for a few seconds, Kishu said with a determined voice, "Pai, I want you to know that I am very grateful for you taking our punishment, but I would like to ask you something."

"What is your question?" Pai asked, annoyed.

"I saw the way the green haired mew…Lettuce I think, kissed you on the cheek. Unforced, gentle and caring. How is it that you got her to kiss you?" Kishu asked cautiously.

Pai's eyes narrowed as he said, "What do you mean by that?"

Still speaking cautiously, Kishu said, "I've been trying to get Ichigo to kiss me on her own free will. I know for a fact that you were only with Lettuce for a day and yet she kissed you on her own free will. Why won't Ichigo kiss me?"

Pai's blushed slightly as he said, "Lettuce didn't exactly kiss me out of passion, but rather…gratitude, at me sparing her friend's life."

Kishu nodded his head before asking in a suspicious voice, "so you planned for her to kiss you because of your good deed?"

Immediately, Pai became angry. "You think I planned for it? That thought never even crossed my mind because I was more concerned with living with the knowledge of betraying Deep Blue-sama and ultimately our people!" Pai snapped.

Shrugging, Kishu said with a thin smile, "I was only curious Pai. After all, Ichigo _never_ responds to me the way you got Lettuce to. If I didn't know better, I would think she may actually love you."

Kishu's comment caused Pai to catch his breath. "W…what?" Pai asked, confused.

Grinning with triumph, Kishu said, "think about this Pai. She willingly came with you, her enemy, to your ship knowing full well that you could be lying to try and kill her. Instead, she trusted you and you took care of her. When Deep Blue ordered you to kill Zakuro, you told her about it…but instead of attacking instantly, she listened to your explanation and followed your plan even though she obviously didn't want to hurt you."

Pai didn't say anything for a few seconds before saying stubbornly, "she's not in love with me Kishu. She's only grateful. When I found out about her unwillingness to fight us, I immediately tried to help her out. I don't know why, but I too did not wish to fight her either. I cared for her for a day and showed her kindness. She doesn't love me…she only feels gratitude for my willingness to help her."

Suddenly Pai narrowed his pupils. "I never told you the story behind Lettuce. How did you…" Pai said with growing anger before Kishu waved a hand to get Pai to relax.

"Lettuce told the other mews about what you had done. While you and Taruto teleported here, I stayed behind. You wouldn't believe the grief that Lettuce expressed when she saw your blood on the ground. Obviously, she didn't realize that she had hurt you that much when she had hit you," Kishu said with a frown.

Pai winced when he gingerly touched his stomach. "It hurts worst then she knows, but I wouldn't tell her that. After all, I told her to hit me in my weak spot…twice."

Kishu flinched as he said bitterly, "you said twice? You do realize that after the first hit, it's fatal right?"

"Thanks for the late update," Pai mumbled as he shivered. "I would have to say that the good thing about the pain that Deep Blue-sama inflicted on me is that it actually overpowered the death causing agent and prevented it from reaching my other organs."

"Hell of a price though, wasn't it?" Kishu said softly, looking at the floor.

Pai simply nodded his head. "I fully expected Deep Blue-sama to kill me, so I wasn't worried about the double hit. Instead of killing me, he actually cured me. Kinda ironic now thinking about it," Pai said, looking up at the stars.

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**That's the end of this chapter. Thanks for those who've reviewed so far, and thank you for those who will review this chapter.**


	5. Emotion

**I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.**

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Kishu left after spending a few more minutes making sure that Pai was alright. When Pai was left alone, he began to use the orbs to research random subjects. He didn't have a clear idea of what he was doing…all he knew was that research took his mind off of life.

After an hour of pointless searching, Pai unconsciously started to research definitions of love. He found that Kishu had been right on his assumption of Lettuce loving him, at least according to the definition of love, but Pai still denied it. "Lettuce doesn't love me. She simply is feeling grateful for me helping her," Pai reassured himself before laughing bitterly. "Some help I was. Not only did I betray her trust by making her fight me, I also left her back on Earth with the mew creator. If he finds out that she's back…"

Pai started to pace around his room as he thought of what he should do. "Why should I care? After all, she is my…" Pai said to himself, not able to finish the sentence. "Why? What prevents me from doing the right thing for my people?"

Pai stopped and looked into the stars. "This feeling…why won't it leave me?" Pai questioned out loud, not realizing someone was listening to him. Pai touched his chest gently as his heart started to pound. "Every time I think of her…I feel this way. What is this feeling? Is it an emotion?" Pai asked the stars.

A slight noise caused Pai to look behind him and notice that one of his orbs was slightly swaying. Not thinking much of it, Pai turned his attention back to the stars. After a few minutes of studying the millions of glowing dots that were stars, Pai teleported out of his room and into a new section of his ship.

The room had a dirt floor, covered with thousands of wild flowers. The ceiling looked like the earth sky, with small, puffy clouds floating lazily by and the sun glaring down on the field. It looked like the room should be hot, but it actually was warm and comfortable. The entire room could have fooled anyone into thinking they were on earth instead of being in a ship.

Pai sat down before he laid back on the floor. He watched the "clouds" float around and thought how he was feeling better. Closing his eyes, Pai calculated that if he spent a few hours in this chamber, he should be about two days younger. Smiling at the thought, he went to sleep feeling the memory of his pain slip away with the soft smell of wild flowers.

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When Pai woke up about three hours later, he felt refreshed. Smiling, he sat up and yawned sleepily. "I should let myself age backwards more often," Pai said with a chuckle. "Aging forward during sleep helps speed up the process, but aging backwards also has its advantages."

Pai stood up and twisted side to side in order to stretch his back. He jumped a few times to test his legs before taking a short jog around the room. Since there were no walls, Pai just jogged in a straight line. If he wanted to, Pai could actually go on for an eternity and never reach the wall. He had designed the room to just teleport a person walking back to a certain point after awhile.

After he jogged for about ten minutes, Pai teleported back to his room. After checking the orbs, he held out his arms and waited as two small orbs flew around him. Even though Pai couldn't see what they were doing, he knew that the orbs were cleaning him.

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Now smelling clean, Pai teleported to outside Kishu's room and started to knock when he heard a voice coming from inside the room. Curious, Pai opened the door slowly and saw Kishu talking to himself. "Don't worry Ichigo…I will protect you…no, still not good enough," Kishu said with anger.

Smiling, Pai closed the door and teleported to in front of Taruto's room. He knocked a few times before Taruto opened the door. "Hey," Taruto greeted Pai as he stepped to the side to allow Pai to come into his room.

Taruto's room was simple in design. About twenty by thirty meters, the floor was a pale white tile, the walls were a pine wood covering, and once again there appeared to be no ceiling, allowing one to see the stars. On one side of the room held a good size chest that held all of Taruto's toys. The other side had a simple pad on the ground that served as his bed.

"Taruto, I wanted to ask you a few questions," Pai said as he looked into Taruto's eyes.

"Ok…what questions?" Taruto asked nervously, not giving Pai direct eye contact.

"I know that you and mew Pudding have a little...understanding between each other. You saved her life once, and now you go to her house to eat candy and play games. Why?" Pai asked.

Thinking about it, Taruto said suspiciously, "Are you asking me this so Kishu can tease me?"

Pai shook his head in a no as he said, "I'm just curious Taruto. You know you can trust me. Please just answer the question."

Taruto looked nervous as he said cautiously, "I don't know…I like candy and I like games."

Shaking his head in slight annoyance, Pai said, "I wasn't asking about the candy and games. I was asking why you saved her and now go to her house."

Blushing slightly, Taruto said, "I don't know Pai. I don't know why I saved her…honest! I know I should have let her die, but during that time I couldn't think and only acted against reason. Now I go to her house because I want to make sure she's ok. I don't know why though."

Pai nodded his head before saying, "I know what you mean. I feel the same way about Lettuce."

"It's probably nothing more then curiosity," Taruto said dismissively as he walked over to the chest that held all the toys and took out a piece of candy. He unwrapped it before placing the sucker in his mouth. "Um!" Taruto said with a grin.

Pai nodded his head as he made up his mind before teleporting to earth. He appeared next to a tree in the park and immediately flew into the sky. After getting his bearings, he floated over to Café Mew Mew and looked inside a window. He noticed that all the mews were working, including Lettuce. Pai also noticed that Ryou was wearing a bandage over his nose. "Served you right," Pai commented as he slowly moved over to a tree. He floated up into its branches and sat down on a particularly big one.

"Now, I'll wait until Lettuce comes out alone. Then, I'll talk to her," Pai said quietly, getting comfortable as he prepared to wait. Pai felt his heart speed up at the thought of talking to Lettuce. "Why am I excited about just talking to Lettuce?" he asked himself and started to wait.

* * *

After a few hours, the mew girls began to go home one at a time. Finally, Lettuce walked out the door and looked around carefully. A disappointed look appeared on her face as she turned to walk home. "Hello Lettuce…" Pai said as he floated out of the tree.

"Pai!" Lettuce exclaimed and ran over to hug him. Pai awkwardly hugged her back, unsure of himself. After about half a minute, Lettuce slowly released Pai as a deep blush went across her face. "Sorry…I was just so worried about you," Lettuce said, embarrassed at acting so impulsively.

"I'm fine Lettuce. I'm sorry that I worried you," Pai said with a small smile. He took a small step back and also blushed as he felt himself look over Lettuce. She wore a lime green long sleeve shirt and a long flowing, forest green skirt. Around her neck was the golden necklace.

"Pai…are you really healed? The device that you gave me told me that if your weak spot was hit twice, then deadly toxins will be released into your body," Lettuce said worriedly.

Cursing himself for not disabling all the features of the device, Pai reassured her. "I was able to get an anti-poison for it just in time," Pai said, shuddering slightly as he remembered the pain Deep Blue inflicted on him.

"If your sure…" Lettuce said with an unsure voice.

Pai nodded his head and smiled. "I wanted ask you what you would like me to do Lettuce. Do you want to live here on this planet or do you want to go live on my ship?" Pai asked, knowing full well what her answer would be.

"Pai…you know that I can't just leave my family or friends. I want to go with you, but I also don't want to abandon them either," Lettuce said, looking away from Pai.

"It's going to be ok Lettuce. I'll keep my promise on not hurting or killing your friends whether you come with me or not," Pai said with a strange feeling going through him. It was like a knife had just stabbed his heart. _I wonder if this is how Kishu feels when mew Ichigo rejects him, _Pai thought with a frown.

Lettuce turned and looked up into Pai's eyes. He was shocked to see tears in her eyes. "Why are you crying?" Pai asked.

Lettuce began to sob as she cried out, "Pai…I know about Deep Blue and what he does to people who disobey him."

"Who told you?" Pai asked softly.

"I read it in a book. Ancient civilizations had a god that had the name Deep Blue and the physical description was a man with cold blue eyes and pointed ears," Lettuce said, trying to control her tears. "I read that he killed hundreds of people who were late to worship, didn't do his will, or people who made him angry."

Smiling slightly, Pai said, "looks like I'm not the only one who does research in my free time."

Lettuce couldn't hold back the tears as she cried out, "Deep Blue will kill you if you help me anymore!"

Without hesitation, Pai said, "I'll take that risk to keep you happy Lettuce."

"What?" Lettuce asked, looking into Pai's eyes. Pai smiled reassuringly and gently wiped away Lettuce's tears. "I…I don't know what to say…" Lettuce stammered, causing Pai to chuckle.

"Lettuce…I want to know something," Pai said with a calm voice. His heart tripled in speed and yet for some reason, he felt absolutely peaceful. He didn't care about anything other then being with Lettuce.

Pai was still a little shocked when Lettuce said in a feathery soft voice, "I love you."

With only a momentary hesitation, Pai threw away all his fear of Deep Blue and said, "I love you too Lettuce." With that, he kissed Lettuce gently on the lips.

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**Sorry if the love seemed a little rushed. I honestly couldn't think of a better way of doing it.**

**There will be more chapters! Please review, thanks!**


	6. Plan

**I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew**

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Pai ended the kiss about thirty seconds later and looked into Lettuce's eyes. "Wow," Lettuce exclaimed, a deep blush on her face.

"Wow," Pai repeated softly. He had never kissed anyone like that before, though now that he had done it, he longed for more. Shaking his head slightly to get rid of the urge, Pai started to think about his situation.

It also seemed to occur to Lettuce that Pai had a dangerous situation, because she asked worriedly, "Pai...what would happen if Deep Blue found out?"

Without hesitation, Pai answered truthfully, "Probably sentence me to death..." Before Lettuce could say anything though, Pai continued; "however, if both Taruto and Kishu would be willing to switch sides, then Deep Blue would have to give up taking Earth."

"Why?" Lettuce asked, clearly confused.

Scratching the back of his head, Pai answered sadly, "to tell the truth, we are the only military from our planet. If we switched sides, then Deep Blue wouldn't have a choice but call off the attack since he wouldn't have anyone left to fight."

"But, why are you the only military? I would think that your species would have more then just three of you," Lettuce questioned, even more confused.

Chuckling without humor, Pai said, "when we begin our military training, there are hundreds of us. By the end though, we're lucky if even one of us is left alive."

"That's terrible!" Lettuce exclaimed.

Pai nodded his head. "It's the truth. It used to be a whole lot worst. When I underwent my training, the final test was to kill all your comrades who had survived until that point. With Kishu's and Taruto's training, they had to survive in the unforgiving wilderness," Pai said bitterly.

Lettuce didn't say anything. She could see why Pai acted so cold to everyone. After all, he probably had friends that he had to kill, forcing him to bury his emotions in order to just stay alive. It was so cruel a fate that Lettuce didn't' even want to think about it.

"Back to the original topic...Kishu already wants to be with mew Ichigo, but with Taruto..." Pai said, thinking.

"Pudding is always talking about Taruto, so possible they already share some feelings. The real trouble is getting both Kishu and Taruto to openly leave Deep Blue," Lettuce observed quietly.

Pai looked into the sky as he said, "I'll talk to them if you tell the mews that we aren't enemies anymore. Then, explain to mew Ichigo that she must befriend Kishu for at least a little while."

Understanding, Lettuce turned away from Pai before walking away. Pai watched her leave before jumping into the sky and teleporting away to Taruto's room.

Taruto was lying on his bed, covered to his chin in a blanket. Pai didn't feel like disturbing him, so he teleported to in front of Kishu's room. Before he could knock though, he heard Kishu talking to someone.

Pai carefully placed his ear against the door as he listened to who Kishu was talking to. "I don't know Kishu..." Ichigo's voice said softly, uncertain about something.

"Ichigo...I love you...please, let me prove my love by at least protecting you instead of fighting you," Kishu said, his voice soft and caring.

"Well, that's one down," Pai said softly as he heard Ichigo agree. "Now the really hard part...Taruto." Getting an idea, Pai teleported to his room and went to sleep, dreaming of Lettuce.

* * *

When Pai woke up a few hours later, he immediately teleported to Pudding's house before hiding in a tree. He sat still for about an hour before Pudding walked out into her yard, holding a baseball bat and ball. As he watched, Taruto came out of a bush a few minutes later to talk to Pudding before both of them started to play baseball.

Pai noticed the way Taruto seemed to forget that he was not a human as the game continued. He even played fair by not flying to get balls or using any of his powers. After playing for three hours, Pudding had to leave to go to work. Taruto watched Pudding leave with a look of sadness in his eyes before teleporting away. The way Taruto had watched Pudding leave gave Pai the opening he needed.

Pai waited a few minutes before teleporting to in front of Taruto's room. Carefully keeping his face emotionless, he knocked on the door and waited for Taruto to open the door. "Pai?" Taruto asked uncertainly as he allowed Pai to enter his room.

"Taruto...I have to ask you something," Pai said, his face blank.

"Yes?" Taruto asked as he closed the door.

Taking a silent deep breath, Pai asked, "would you kill mew Pudding?"

Taruto looked shocked. "No way, I would never kill her..." he started to say before looking at Pai's face. "I mean..." he started to rephrase himself. Pai waited but Taruto never did change the way he had put it. Blushing slightly, Taruto yelled "I wouldn't do it because you would do it for me!"

"Let's suppose that me and Kishu weren't there. Would you kill mew Pudding?" Pai asked again. "Remember, your answer could mean the difference between life and death."

Taruto gulped but didn't say anything. "Well?" Pai asked, his voice emotionless.

"I wouldn't kill Pudding. I just wouldn't." Taruto said softly, not looking at Pai. "I know that Deep Blue would punish me with death, but I just can't imagine killing Pudding."

Pai suddenly smiled as he said kindly, "you like mew Pudding, don't you?"

"Only slightly," Taruto said defensively.

"There is no slightly in willing to give your life for someone...that's love," Pai said, smiling while he put a hand on Taruto's shoulder.

"I don't love Pudding!" Taruto yelled stubbornly.

Pai rolled his eyes but didn't comment on it. Instead, he said, "whether you admit you like or love her is unimportant right now. What is important though is that Deep Blue will order her death soon. Before that happens though, I think that if we join forces with the mews, then we can save our planet while saving human lives."

Taruto had a suspicious tone as he asked, "since when do you care about the humans?"

"Ever since Lettuce told me that she loved me...and I returned her love," Pai answered truthfully.

"Figures...you know that Kishu gave me the same speech right?" Taruto asked.

Laughing, Pai replied, "I sort of figured that when I heard mew Ichigo and Kishu talking in his room. I already think he's on board."

Taruto pointed out a important fact that Pai had been hoping to avoid. "Who will be the one to tell Deep Blue?" he asked Pai worriedly.

Looking at the floor, Pai said, "I will." He looked up at Taruto as he said with determination, "If I don't show up at the mew café in ten hours from now, then assume I'm dead. Go tell Kishu my plan and then go to the mew café."

"Pai...please don't die. I don't want to lose one of my friends," Taruto said, his eyes sad.

"I'll try to stay alive. Now go," Pai commanded.

When Taruto disappeared, Pai took a deep breath as he teleported to in front of Deep Blue's temple.

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**The ending is coming up soon. Thanks to those who've reviewed up to this point.**


	7. The rebirth

**I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.**

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Pai looked at the entrance for about ten minutes before he was able to rationalize his thoughts. "Ok...all I have to do is go into Deep Blue's temple and tell him that me, Taruto, and Kish all are quitting the military. Maybe he won't kill me for it...a small chance...but I know for certain that he will extract some sort of punishment on me," Pai told himself softly, his eyes slightly shaking from a growing fear.

Shaking his head, Pai calmed himself. "I've been though the worst of tortures...nothing Deep Blue can do, short of death, should affect me," he reassured himself, knowing he was just trying to buy time for himself. After all, Deep Blue was a master of torture...something that Pai knew all too well.

Hesitant at first, Pai slowly began his journey into the temple. He had been there hundreds of times, but never before had it been this threatening. Every time his foot touched the ground, it sounded like a loud clap to Pai's ears. He momentarily thought about floating, but decided that he was too nervous to fly in the narrow hallway.

Pai came to the bottom of the stairs and looked up the ominous hall. Cautiously, he began to slowly climb the stairs. Pai began to breathe a little faster in anticipation. His heart throbbed loud enough to echo through the hallway. Cold sweat appeared on the back of his neck, feeling like long icy fingers were softly caressing his skin.

When Pai reached the top of the stairs, he had a overpowering urge to run. The disk that contained Deep Blue slowly floated up before revealing Deep Blue's ghost. "Why have you bothered me Pai?" Deep Blue's cold voice rang out, full of annoyance.

Pai didn't try to hide his thoughts when he felt Deep Blue begin to read his mind. Deep Blue's eyes narrowed to slits as he questioned, "so...you are turning against me? Against your people?"

"Never against my people...only against you," Pai corrected quietly.

"If you are against me, then you are against your people," Deep Blue said, his voice sending waves of ice through Pai's spine.

Pai shook his head before yelling, "I love my people and I love Lettuce...but I don't even like you, Deep Blue." Pai was shocked when he heard Deep Blue chuckle.

"You poor idiot...you have no idea what is going on, do you?" Deep Blue said harshly, his eyes flashing cruelly. "Since you've been here, your home planet has gotten even worst. Everyday, thousands and thousands of people die terribly...lives that could have been saved if you had only taken over the earth. Don't you dare tell me you love your people when you don't even care that they are dying while you are falling in love with a human."

Pai grabbed the sides of his head when Deep Blue suddenly sent grotesque images of his people dying. "Stop..." Pai shouted as he fell to his knees. Instead of stopping, Deep Blue now added the pain that the dying people felt. "_Stop_!" Pai cried out, feeling like he was burning up with a fever, freezing his limbs off, starving, having his bones crushed, and more indescribable things. Every second, the pain just got even worst. "_STOP!_" Pai shrieked, falling over to his side. Though the haze of pure and brutal torture, he heard Deep Blue's voice.

"I won't stop...not until you experience the thousands of deaths that has happened since you left. I will not stop, not even for a second. Everything from death by being crushed by boulders to death by suffocation, you will feel every second clearly," Deep Blue said as he laughed.

The pain was growing so intense that Pai was sure he was dead. Nothing living could take the pain he was experiencing. It was the very definition of hell, pure and simple. "Know the pain that all of the poor mortals felt as you calculated plans for taking over Earth...know the deaths that could have been prevented as you started to take piety on the humans...feel their souls fade from their bodies as you were falling in love with the enemy," Deep Blue said, his voice cruel and uncaring.

A few hours passed during the never creasing torture. Not once did Deep Blue let up the pain, preferring instead to continue to scold Pai for letting so many of his people die. The physical and mental pain started to affect his sanity, which caused him to slip into insanity at a uncertain point. Pai had just decided to lie out and die when a unexpected image appeared in his head. A image of Lettuce's smiling face. Suddenly, Pai was at peace. His sanity returned and the pain just disappeared. "What?" Deep Blue cried out as Pai slowly stood up.

"You shouldn't be able to breath much less move around..you should be dead...why aren't you dead?" Deep Blue questioned, his cold voice confused.

Pai fixed his eyes on Deep Blue as he said softly, "the reason why I breathe now is because of Lettuce." He slowly began to walk towards Deep Blue. "The reason why I move now is because of Lettuce." Pai stopped when he stood less then half a meter from Deep Blue. "The reason why I live now is because of Lettuce."

"So, you're finally admitting to betraying your people then?" Deep Blue asked, sounding like he was sneering.

"I told you before...I love my people, but I hate you. You are not only dismissed from this ship, but also from my people," Pai said with determination.

Laughing, Deep Blue said with a apparent smirk, "your species needs me...I'm a god after all. You need my powers to save your planet."

Shaking his head, Pai replied, "I can find a way to save my planet without the help of you and your damn "powers," which I might add only seem to bring pain and suffering to us. You can just drop dead for all I care."

"Don't be a fool. Without me, more of your people would have died by now," Deep Blue said, once again sending images of death to Pai.

Deep blue howled in pain when his images were blocked by a more powerful emotion. "Lettuce is in my heart now and forever Deep Blue. You cannot possible know what she means to me...I will protect her with my life," Pai said softly, a deadly note in his voice.

"You'll regret this Pai," Deep Blue hissed before disappearing into the disk. Pai looked at it for a second before placing a foot on it and crushing it into powder.

"I regret not doing that sooner," Pai growled before feeling a tremor go through the ship. He fell to his knees as the tremor broke apart the floor. "Couldn't he have gone quietly?" Pai asked himself as he felt the ship literally start to break apart.

Pai tried to teleport but found he couldn't. "What the...Deep Blue!" Pai yelled, realizing that his powers were gone. When Deep Blue had went back into his disk, Deep Blue must have placed a temporary curse on Pai to prevent him from using his powers. It wouldn't last for more then a day, but with the ship falling apart...

The floor underneath him suddenly gave way and Pai found himself falling in the Earth's atmosphere. As Pai plummeted through the air, he felt more then heard his ship explode. The resulting shock wave rippled though his body and caused him to lose sight of the ground. "So this is how it ends...death by crashing into the ground," Pai said, strangely calm. "At least Deep Blue won't be able to take over this planet now, since my ship was the only thing keeping him alive."

Pai kept free-falling for a few more seconds before something crashed into him with such a force that it knocked his breath out of his body for a few seconds.

"Need a lift?" a smiling Kishu asked, holding Pai's right side as Taruto held on to Pai's left side.

"How...?" Pai started to question before Kishu and Taruto teleported him to Café Mew Mew. As soon as he was inside the building, Lettuce rushed to Pai and hugged him in a crushing embrace. Still confused, Pai awkwardly hugged Lettuce back as he asked Kishu, "How did you know I was in trouble?"

Kishu moved to the side to reveal Ryou, who was leaning on the wall with a annoyed look on his face. "Blondy here detected a explosion in the upper atmosphere with his computer, right were your ship was," Kishu explained, smiling as Ryou looked away from Pai.

"I was just surprised about it, that was all," Ryou said dismissively before Kishu slung an arm around Ryou's shoulder.

"Ever since we arrived, you've done nothing but search the upper atmosphere for some clue for our ship. You knew that it was Pai's ship that was exploding. You knew that he was in trouble as well. You could have ignored it and let Pai die...instead, you came and immediately told me and Taruto about it. You saved Pai's life," Kishu said with a growing grin.

Pai nodded his head in understanding and said softly, "thank you."

Ryou broke free of Kishu and walked to the door of the kitchen before saying in a low voice, "your welcome." He walked into the kitchen without another word.

"Pai...I was so worried about you," Lettuce sobbed. Pai just now realized that Lettuce was crying.

"I'm sorry I worried you...I really am," Pai said softly, gently placing a hand underneath Lettuce's chin and lifting her lips to his and kissing her.

Taruto rolled his eyes before sticking out his tongue. "Yuck, kissing!" he complained before Pudding came out and gave him a hug. "Get off of me!" Taruto said, pretending to not like Pudding hugging him.

Kishu chuckled before teleporting away, probable to go see Ichigo. Pai broke off his kiss and looked lovingly into Lettuce's eyes. "I can stay with you on this planet forever now. I still have to find a way to save my planet, but I will have you beside me the entire time. With the two of us, there isn't anything we can't do," Pai declared.

Lettuce didn't say anything, instead kissing Pai again on the lips as her own way of agreement.

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**This might be the last chapter...I haven't decided yet. Anyway, thanks for reading.**


	8. Public enemy

**I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.**

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It had been several weeks since Pai's ship had exploded. He had taken up residence in a apartment by himself and worked at Café Mew Mew to be beside Lettuce everyday. They had both agreed that she needed to finish school before they could live together, but both were willing to wait. Taruto had moved in with Pudding (though he claims that it had nothing to do with love...he just wanted to play at the park more often), and Kishu was living somewhere else entirely. Though he didn't know where, Pai was certain that wherever Kishu resided, it was most likely near Ichigo.

Kishu and Taruto both also worked at the café as well, but Taruto performed tricks like Pudding more then actual work. Kishu, on the other hand, worked harder the Ichigo to try and ease her amount of work. Other then a few stray chimera animas, there really wasn't any reason for the mews to fight anymore. With Pai, Kishu, and Taruto on their sides, there wasn't any more alien threats against the earth...at least, they thought so.

That belief changed when one day, Masaya went missing. A massive search party was sent out but he was never found. It was about a month after that incident when rumors of unexplained phenomenons started to spread. Rumors of a man with pointed ears destroying entire cities with nothing more then a swipe of a sword. Normal people thought that the rumors were bogus, but not the aliens or mews.

"It has to be a new invasion party from our planet," Taruto said logically, looking at Pai. The mews and aliens were sitting in the café, talking about the rumors. Ryou had been picking up strange readings on his radar, confirming that the rumors were indeed true. He had closed the café early so that they can plan for the upcoming battle. They all sat around a table, a map of Japan laid out in front of them.

"Suppose it is, what can we do about it?" Lettuce asked, looking at Pai. To everyone else, Pai appeared to be his normal self, but to Lettuce, he appeared nervous. For the past few nights, Pai had been plagued by nightmares that showed Deep Blue coming back to life. At first, Pai had been convinced that it was nothing more then a bad dream, but after hearing the scale of the attacks, he was now doubting that the dreams were only dreams.

Standing up, Kishu said with determination, "we can tell the warrior to leave. He or she would have to respect the wishes of us, since we are the most experienced fighters of our race."

"What if it isn't just another one of us...what if it is our former god?" Pai asked quietly. Everyone turned to stare at him. Kishu slowly sat down and looked over at Ichigo, worry on his face.

Ryou cleared his voice before asking, "what makes you think that?"

Pai looked up from the table and stared into Ryou's eyes. "I haven't told any of you this, but lately, I've had dreams of Deep Blue returning. I thought he had died with my ship, but it is possible that if he was able to detach his soul from my ship fast enough, he could still be alive," Pai said slowly, looking from Ryou to each of the mews, and ending with his eyes staring at Lettuce.

"What are in these _dreams_?" Ryou asked, looking skeptical.

Sighing, Pai began to tell his story. "In my dreams, I'm walking in a forest. There is mist all around, and I have a feeling of dread. As I continue to walk, I hear screams of pain, and deep down I know it's the mews. I come to a small open field of bare dirt and see the mews, Kishu, and Taruto all on the ground. My eyes lift and Deep Blue is standing across the field, a triumphant grin on his face," Pai said, keeping a minor detail for himself. In his dream, Deep Blue was holding Lettuce by the throat, preparing to kill her.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds. "Where are Keiichiro and myself in this dream?" Ryou asked, looking slightly annoyed...though his hand had a faint tremor in it.

Pai looked at Ryou and said without emotion, "I don't know. It is a dream after all, and it isn't about you."

Ryou started to get up but Keiichiro stopped him. "Are you saying that because you don't know...or because you know and don't want to tell us?" Keiichiro asked gently.

Looking directly into Keiichiro's eyes, Pai said regretfully, "if you want the truth...you are both dead in my dream."

A look of shock appeared on everyone's face. No one spoke for several minutes before Kishu cleared his voice and said with a determined tone, "we can win if it is indeed Deep Blue. Pai said it himself...it's nothing more then a dream...a nightmare."

Everyone except Pai breathed a sigh of relief. "It's going to be ok Pai...you're with us now, and together, no one can beat us," Lettuce reassured him with a smile.

Pai smiled weakly at Lettuce, but still had doubts. He had barely survived Deep Blue as a ghost...there was no telling how powerful he was as living flesh. Mint brought up a good point as she asked, "how do we even know that Deep Blue is even alive? It could just be another one of your military."

Thinking, Zakuro said slowly, "one of the aliens could scout out the area first, so that if it is Deep Blue, then the rest of us can attack while the alien is holding off the mental attack."

"I'll do it," Kishu volunteered, standing up.

Pai stood up and said calmly, "no you won't...I will."

"What? Why?" Kishu asked angerly, looking at Pai.

"If it is in fact Deep Blue and he does a mental attack, then I'm the only one here that has any experience with the pain," Pai answered, his voice still calm.

"Fine..." Kishu said, pouting slightly.

* * *

The mews and aliens began their search at the last city that had been attacked. It wasn't a good sight. The mews stood silently at the sight of a huge crater, the ground blackened by some unknown power. There wasn't a single living thing within the two kilometer long depression in the ground.

Taruto was trying to comfort a sad Pudding while the rest of the mews tried to control their feelings.

"Dear god..." Ryou mumbled quietly, looking away from the sight and looking at Pai.

"No...this is the work of a god," Pai said, looking at the center of the crater. Judging from the width and length of the crater, Pai estimated that who ever did this was extremely powerful..more powerful than anything that Pai had ever seen before. Everything inside the circle had been totally obliterated.

"There is no mistaking this," Taruto said, studying the sky. Kishu was standing near Ichigo, looking around for any signs of trouble.

Lettuce came to stand next to Pai. "Why would Deep Blue destroy a city full of innocent people? They didn't pose a threat to him, so why?" Lettuce asked, trying to keep herself from crying.

Pai knew the reason, but he didn't say anything. Deep Blue gained power by causing death and destruction...something that Pai had suspected for a long time but just now was able to put it together. It was the only explanation for such a massacre.

"How do we find him?" Ryou asked, walking up behind Pai.

"_We_ don't. I do," Pai said softly.

Ryou looked around to see if anyone other then Lettuce and Pai was near enough to hear them before asking quietly, "are you saying that you want to do this alone?" Pai simply nodded his head in response. Sighing slightly, Ryou looked at Lettuce, puzzlement on his face. "You're acting pretty calm for having your boyfriend leave to scout out a potentially deadly area."

Smiling, Lettuce replied as she wiped away a tear from her eye, "I am worried, but Pai has already defeated Deep Blue once. I have faith that he can do it again."

Looking around, Ryou said, "Pai, if you're not back in five hours, we will begin our search without you." He looked at Pai before continuing, "if you see Deep Blue, contact us immediately. You've seen the destruction that he can do and I don't know if we can beat him together, but I know that with even one of us gone, our chances plummet drastically."

Rolling his eyes, Pai flew into the sky. Casting one last look at Lettuce, Pai began his search for Deep Blue.

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**The next chapter is the big final, so prepare yourself. Oh, and please review this chapter, thanks!**


	9. Life and death

**I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.**

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Pai began his search in the northern region of the forest. After finding no evidence of Deep Blue, he went to the southern region. About half-way through searching though that section, Pai came across a path of destruction.

"The work of Deep Blue," Pai stated simply. It looked like someone had burned the ground in a two meter wide path. Pai felt a small twinge of uneasiness at the sight. The path was perfectly straight...unusual for anything found in a wild forest.

Pai slowly began to descend and was about to stand on the path when a insect flew past his face. Pai stopped his descent and watched the insect fly to the ground. He cringed when the insect suddenly burst into flame. Now knowing the path was deadly, Pai decided to follow the path...from a safe distance above it.

* * *

It was about two hours later when the path ended. Pai was deciding what to do when he heard a soft rustling of leaves. Curious, Pai floated above the trees and was surprised to see a human boy standing by a creek. Now weary, Pai flew down behind the boy and tapped him on the shoulder. The boy flinched before turning to face Pai.

Pai and the boy looked each other over. The boy was wearing a torn white t-shirt and torn blue jeans. Scratches covered the boy's arms and legs, several of which were bleeding.

The boy noticed Pai's ears and shifted his weight so he was prepared to fight. "Who are you?" the boy asked, the tone of his voice fearful.

"My name is Pai...who are you?" Pai asked, his eyes slightly narrowing.

The boy looked around before saying, "my name is Masaya."

That came as a surprise to Pai. "You wouldn't happen to know a Momomiya Ichigo, would you?" Pai asked, not showing any emotion as Masaya nodded his head.

"How...how do you know about Ichigo-san?" Masaya questioned, but Pai ignored him.

Pai was dealing with a more pressing matter at the moment. He knew that while Masaya needed some medical attention quickly, he also knew that Deep Blue would use the time to get closer to Tokyo. As Pai debated with himself on what to do, Masaya started to act weird.

Masaya grabbed the sides of his head and screeched. Pai was startled and started to back away from Masaya as he suddenly went silent. When Masaya started to chuckle, Pai knew that something was terribly wrong.

"Masaya-san? Are you alright?" Pai asked as Masaya's body started to change. His ears became pointed, and Masaya started to grow taller until he was only a few inches shorter then Pai. Even though Pai was still taller, he now felt a overwhelming sense of dread as Masaya's clothes changed into a long blue coat who's length went to his knees but flared out to give him room to walk.. His jet black hair grew until it was falling well below his shoulders.

Masaya closed his eyes for a few seconds, during which his skin turned pale white. When he opened his eyes, Pai knew he was in trouble. Masaya's eyes were a chilling blue...and were the same eyes that Deep Blue's ghost had.

"Deep Blue..." Pai hissed, holding his hands at his sides. Deep Blue didn't say anything, instead holding out his hand. A red orb of energy appeared in it, and slowly became a two meter long sword.

Pai didn't hesitate as he did the same thing, but instead of a sword, a tessen appeared in his hand. Deep Blue started to chuckle at the sight. "The power to create any weapon in the entire universe, and you decided to use a war fan against my sword?" he questioned, his voice icy.

Not taking his eyes off of Deep Blue, Pai began to wave his tessen towards the sky. A bold of lightning raced out of the tessen and went into the clouds before exploding in a huge thunder clap. Deep Blue stopped chuckling and said, "if you're trying to contact your allies, it's too late. By the time they get here, you'll be dead."

"Maybe you will kill me, or maybe you'll find me more then you can possibly handle," Pai challenged softly, his eyes growing cold. Deep Blue laughed for a few seconds before disappearing.

Pai rolled forward as a sword barely missed removing his head from his body. "Good reflexes...but reflexes won't win you this fight," Deep Blue commented before disappearing again. Pai stood perfectly still and used all senses to find Deep Blue.

A soft rustling of grass was the only indicator of another attack...but it was enough. Pai turned around and used his tessen to block Deep Blue's sword from cleaving him in half. The tessen was made of a material that was stronger then diamond, yet lighter then bird feather...and it only barely held back the sword.

"Your tessen is quite strong, but is it strong enough to hold me back indefinably?" Deep Blue asked, sneering. He jumped back from Pai to gather energy into his sword.

Pai took the advantage and fanned the tessen towards Deep Blue. Pure energy in the form of lightning burst forth from the tessen and hit Deep Blue...or would have, if he hadn't moved with incredible speed to avoid it.

"This is bad," Pai mumbled softly as he dodged another powerful stroke from Deep Blue's sword. Pai knew his tessen couldn't block another attack, but it was the only weapon capable of using elemental attacks that could move fast enough to hit Deep Blue. He could have repaired the tessen, but that would have taken a few seconds to do...seconds that Pai didn't have.

A thought occurred to Pai as he jumped into the air, saving his legs from being cut off from his body. From what Pai had seen, Deep Blue could have used a ranged attack to simply destroy Pai from afar...yet Deep Blue was fighting Pai in close combat. Why?

Deep Blue chuckled as he read Pai's mind. "I'm fighting you in close combat because I want the pleasure of tearing your head from your body myself. Sure, I could always use my power to destroy you and everything within a kilometer's distance in a blink of an eye, but I want you to suffer before you die," Deep Blue answered before disappearing.

This time, Pai wasn't even able to move before a sword cut deeply into his leg. Grunting, Pai began to fall as Deep Blue grabbed Pai by the front of his neck and held him off the ground. "You defied me...you challenged me...you tried to kill me..." Deep Blue said in a low voice, sending waves of ice through Pai's spine. Laughing, Deep Blue sent electricity through Pai.

Pai cried out in pain in response to the electricity going through him. Pai's vision blurred for a minute, during which Deep Blue released his grip on Pai's neck. "I'll make you suffer...physically and emotionally before I kill you," Deep Blue yelled out before disappearing. Coughing, Pai took several minutes to gather his strength, fully prepared to die. When death didn't come, Pai looked around before he realized that Deep Blue was gone. Standing up straight, Pai prepared for another attack...but none came. _Why did he leave?_ Pai thought before he remembered his dream.

"No...it couldn't be...he wouldn't..." Pai said in shock before jumping into the sky. As soon as he was a hundred meters from the ground, Pai flew with all his speed towards the last place that the mews had been.

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_It's just like my dream,_ Pai thought as he landed. The sky had grown thick with clouds, forcing Pai to land after half an hour of searching for the mews. The forest was thick with fog, making it impossible to see for more then a few meters in any direction.

"Mews! Where are you!" Pai called out with a faint hope of someone answering him. When nothing did, he continued to call out every couple minutes, his hope diminishing with every unanswered call. It wasn't until Pai had walked for several hours when a scream rang out.

Pai stopped to listen for the direction of the scream. As he listened, three more screams rang out, each one a females voice. Pai's body went cold and numb when he recognized one of voices.

"Lettuce!" Pai cried out and immediately began to run towards the screams, ignoring the roaring pain in his injured leg. His vision blurred, and suddenly Pai remembered his nightmare.

Pai slowed to a walk when he came across a field of dirt. "It's just like my dream...which means..." Pai began to say before fear overwhelmed his sense of thought.

While Pai didn't see Ryou or Keiichiro bodies, he already knew they were dead. Zakuro and Mint were sprawled out on the ground, trying to gather the strength to get up. Kishu was lying over a knocked out Ichigo. Pudding was sitting next to a still Taruto, crying over his body.

Pia hesitantly looked up and didn't do anything when he saw Deep Blue holding Lettuce by the throat. Deep Blue looked over to Pai and laughed as he raised his sword. "P...Pai..." Lettuce chocked out before she passed out from the lack of air.

Deep Blue dropped Lettuce to the ground and said in an uncaring voice, "you disappointed me Pai. After seeing you defeated so many times by these mews, I was expecting these weaklings to at least put up a interesting fight. They weren't even capable of dodging me, much less fighting me."

Pai was silent as he looked over at Lettuce. Deep Blue followed Pai's look and laughed when he saw what Pai was looking at. "She's still alive, but not for long. After I chop off your legs and arms, I'll kill her in front of you before I finish you off," Deep Blue gloated before disappearing.

Pai didn't move for a few seconds. He stared at Lettuce and felt something that he had suppressed for a long time...rage. "Damn you to hell Deep Blue!" Pai shouted and ducked under a sword slash. He kicked out and tripped Deep Blue, giving Pai time to take Deep Blue's sword.

Swinging it with all his strength, Pai cut deeply into Deep Blue's side. Grunting from the strike, Deep Blue held the sword in place and slowly looked up at Pai. "Lucky attack...too bad you can't kill a god that way," Deep Blue snarled before breaking the sword.

"I know that it won't kill you, but I know that you can't run right now either," Pai snarled back, holding out his hand. A green orb appeared in it. Deep Blue's eyes widened at the sight.

"What is that? A green orb?" Deep Blue questioned, starting to back away.

Pai smiled sadly and looked at the orb. "If an orb is yellow, it means knowledge." He slowly began to walk towards Deep Blue. "If an orb is red, it means weapon." Pai teleported behind Deep Blue and whispered into his ear, "do you know what a green one means?"

Deep Blue screamed when Pai slammed the orb into Deep Blue's back. "Green means life, something that I willingly give up to kill you," Pai shouted out.

"_Why? Why would you kill yourself to kill me?_" Deep Blue cried out.

Pai laughed as he answered, "I'll gladly die to protect the girl I love."

The world started to darken as Deep Blue screamed at the sudden pain. After a few minutes, Deep Blue disappeared in a blinding light, and Pai knew that Deep Blue was now dead forever.

Pai went cold and fell to the ground, his legs numb. He looked around to Lettuce and smiled as she started to get off the ground. When Lettuce saw Pai lying on the ground, she ran over to him.

"Pai! Are you ok?" Lettuce asked before looking around for Deep Blue.

"Deep Blue's dead Lettuce...just like I'm about to be," Pai said in a soft tone. He found that with every second passing, it was harder to keep his eyes open.

"No...no...you can't die!" Lettuce cried out, immediately trying to keep Pai from falling asleep by lightly slapping his face.

Pai simply smiled at the attempt. He couldn't feel the slaps, and the world was growing darker in his eyes. "I've got to go now Lettuce, but please know this...I love you," Pai said, closing his eyes. He was dead before Lettuce even had a chance to respond.

* * *

"Ugh..." Pai complained as he raised his head. Pai looked around to see himself in a white room. "Is this the afterlife?" Pai questioned out loud before someone cleared their throat. Looking over to a door, he saw Ryou standing there, smiling at him.

"Welcome back to the living," Ryou greeted in a nice tone. Pai was confused as Ryou explained. "I was also dead until something unexplainable happened. When Deep Blue died, he released some sort of energy that revived everyone and everything within a hundred kilometer's radius. All the people in the cities are alive and well."

Still confused, Pai asked, "then why am I lying in a bed, surrounded by white walls?"

Shrugging, Ryou answered, "you went into a coma instead of coming back to life. We all thought you would never wake up, but not Lettuce. She never left your side since we brought you to the hospital."

That was when Pai realized he felt a small weight near his foot. Looking over, he saw Lettuce lying her head down on the bed, sleeping. "I'll give you some time to talk alone," Ryou said before leaving the room.

Pai slowly reached towards Lettuce's shoulder and gently touched it. She slowly opened her eyes, and came fully awake when she saw it was Pai that was waking her. "Pai! I knew you would return to me!" Lettuce cried before hugging Pai.

When Pai felt Lettuce start to cry, he began to calm her. "It's ok Lettuce...I'm back for good this time," Pai said, his voice gentle and caring.

Lettuce stopped crying and looked up at Pai. "You'll stay with me then?" she asked, wiping away her tears.

Smiling, Pai answered, "forever, if you want me to. I love you."

Now smiling as well, Lettuce leaned forward and kissed Pai passionately on the lips. "I love you too," Lettuce said before kissing Pai again.

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_In the aftermath of the destruction caused by Deep Blue, Masaya was found alive and was returned to civilized life. While Ichigo was happy to see Masaya, she had fallen in love with Kishu during their time together. Masaya accepted it without much question. Other then that, the other mews didn't have any drastic changes in their lives...well, except for Lettuce. With her help, Pai was able to stabilize the atmosphere of his planet, making life habitable on it once again._

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_When Lettuce had finished school and collage, she and Pai bought a house together near the park where the mew café was located. They married and had three children together, two boys, named Chikao and Kiosho. and one girl, named Ai. They had their mother's hair and their father's ears. While they had none of either parent's powers, they did posses incredible minds. When they moved out of the house, Lettuce and Pai moved to a house just outside of Tokyo to spend the rest of their lives in peace and quiet...together._

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**Thanks for reading.**

**This story was wrote in dedication to jd steve.  
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**THE END.  
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